- Unit 5    - War And Peace

Section-1-  Old Man At The Bridge

ANSWER ORALLY

1.    1   The men, women and  children are moving towards Tortosa or Barcelona to escape the artillery during Spain’s Civil War. The soldiers are helping them as the bank is steep so that there is some sort of order and they can clear the bridge before the enemy caught up with them .

2.2       The narrator was a soldier .

READ AND ANSWER

1.       He was very old and tired. He had a grey dusty face, wore steel – rimmed spectacles and wore dusty clothes . His clothes were covered with dust  as he had travelled twelve kilometers on foot on the way where a mass movement of people had unsettled the dust

That covered him.

2.       The old man just looked after some animals like a cat, two goats and four pairs of pigeons in the town .

3.       He was tired as he had travelled twelve kilometers on foot.

4.       The other people were crossing the pontoon bridge in their carts and trucks away from Ebro towards Tortosa and Barcelona to escape the Fascists as the old man sat still in one place .

5.       The old man was worried about what would happen to the animals that he had left behind. He felt the cat would be able to look after itself, but what would happen to the goats and pigeons.

THINK AND ANSWER

1.   1    The pontoon bridge is the focal point of all the action that takes place in the story. It is a route for the people to escape towards safety from the advancing Fascists. The old chooses to sit there while the narrator speaks to him .

2. 2      War effects all. The old man was tired and worried constantly about the animals he had left behind. He is the representative of the people who are left alone to mourn their loss.

3.   3    He was the last one to leave the town as he was too old to make such a long journey. He had stayed back to look after the animals and did not wish to abandon them.

4.    4   He said it as he knew  the cat  could adapt to the situation, be aggressive and hunt for its food .

5.   5    The old man was concerned how the goats and doves would survive the artillery. HE knew them to be timid and helpless creatures, just like himself . He identified  himself with their plight and was worried about their well being.

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